Stringed musical instrument.



No. 766,339. PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904. G. M. FUNK.

STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

' oZ mva n foz Patented August 2, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES M. FUNK, OF SEDALIA, MISSOURI.

STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,339, dated August2, 1904.

Application filed January 2, 1904.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, CHARLES M. FUNK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Sedalia, in the county of Pettis and State of Missouri, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Stringed Musical Instruments, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to harp-guitars 2'. e. guitars having asupplemental neck and bass strings thereon; and it has for its object toprovide means through the medium of which a performer may quickly andeasily render any of the bass strings sharp, and thereby avoid thenecessity of retuning the bass strings when it is desired to play in akey other than the natural key of C.

With the foregoing in mind the invention will be fully understood fromthe following description and claim when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a front elevation of a harp-guitar equipped with my novelsharping devices. Fig. 2 is a detail view, partly in elevation andpartly in vertical section and on an enlarged scale, illustrating one ofthe bass strings on the supplemental neck and the sharping devicecomplementary thereto, the said sharping device being shown in itsnormal position. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, illustrating thesharping device as adjusted to render the strings sharp. Fig. 4 is adetail rear elevation illustrating a portion of the supplemental neckand the sharping devices thereon; and Fig. 5 is a detail view, partly inelevation and partly in vertical section, illustrating a modifiedsharping device.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, and more particularly to Figs.1 to 4 thereof, A is the body of a harp-guitar. B is the neck thereof;C, the supplemental neck; D, treble strings on the neck B, and E bassstrings on the supplemental neck C. These parts may be and preferablyare of the ordinary construction, with the exception that the neck C isprovided with a fret F and carries my novel sharping devices.

G Gr are the sharping devices,of which there is one employed inconnection with each bass string. These sharping devices are identicalSerial No. 187,535. (No model.)

in construction, and therefore a detailed de-' scription of the oneshown in Figs. 2 and 3 will suffice to impart a definite understandingof all. In the present and preferred embodimentof my invention the saiddevice Gis made up of an endwise-movable pin a, which extends throughthe neck 0 from the front to the back thereof and has a lateral arm 5 atits forward end arranged to engage one of the strings E, a hook or loop0 at its rear end, and a shoulder (Z at an intermediate point of itslength; a coiled spring a, surrounding the reduced rear portion of thepin a and interposed between the shoulder cl thereof and a shoulder f inthe neck; aframe g, connected to the rear side of the neck C and havinga vertical slot it in its rear wall, and a slide c, disposed in andadapted to be guided by the frame g and having a finger-piece j movablein the slot it and also having an upper tapered end In extending throughand adapted to move in the hook or loop 0 at the rear end of the pin a.The pin a is disposed immediately above the fret F, and hence it will beobserved that when the slide 2 is moved through the medium of itsfinger-piece from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 3itstaper end engaging the hook or loop of the pin a will move the pinrearwardly, so as to carry the arm Z) thereon against the stringcomplementary to the device, with the result that the said string willbe made sharp after the manner shown in Fig. 3. It will also be observedthat when it is desired to restore the natural tone of the string theperformer has but to move the slide 2' down into the position shown inFig. 2, when the spring 0, acting against the should er of the pin a,will force the pin into the position shown in Fig. 2 and out ofengagement with the string.

Any suitable number of bass strings may be employed on the supplementalneck C, and, as before stated, one of my novel sharping devices is usedin connection with each string. From this it follows that a performer isenabled to play in a key the signature of which is one or more sharps orflats without stopping to retune the bass strings. For instance, if hedesires to play in the key of B- flat the performer has but to securethe pins a complementary to the A string and the D string in theposition shown in Fig. 3. When he desires to again play in the naturalkey of C, the performer has but to restore the pins a to the positionshown in Fig. 2.

Inasmuch as the several sharping devices are located at the rear side ofthe supplemental neck C and adjacent to the upper end thereof, theperformer on the instrument is enabled to expeditiously and convenientlymove the slides a with his left hand, either to place the pins 60 in theposition shown in Fig. 3 or to restore said pins to the position shownin Fig. 2.

Notwithstanding the practical advantages of my novel sharping devices aspointed out in the foregoing, it will be noticed that the same aresimple and inexpensive in construction, and therefore do not addmaterially to the cost of the instrument; also, that the said devicesare calculated to enhance rather than detract from the finishedappearance of the instrument.

The modified construction (shown in Fig. 5) is made up of a pin 04,disposed in the supplemental neck C and having a lateral branch 5 at itsforward end arranged to engage a string E and also having a lateralprojection d at an intermediate point of its length; a spring-strip 0,connected to the face of the neck and arranged to engage the projectionor shoulder (Z of the pin, so as to return the pin to and normally holdit in the position shown in Fig. 5; a keeper 2 disposed at the rear sideof the neck C, and a resilient strip 9, connected to and extendingrearwardly from the pin a and having a heady" at its rear end and abeveled shoulder 7t" at an intermediate point of its length. As beforestated, the spring-strip 0 serves to normally hold the pin a in theposition shown in order to leave the string natural. hen, however, theperformer desires to sharp the string, he has but to grasp the handle orfinger-piece draw the pin a rearwardly, and place the shoulder is inengagement with the keeper With this done the pin will be retained inits rear position and the string rendered sharp, while when the shoulderit" is sprung out of engagement with the keeper the lateral branch ofthe pin will be moved out of engagement with the string and the stringthereby restored to its natural state.

I have entered into a detailed description of the construction andrelative arrangement of the parts embraced in both embodiments of myinvention in order to impart a full, clear, and exact. understanding ofthe same. I do not desire, however, to be understood as confining myselfto such specific construction and relative arrangement of parts, as suchchanges or modifications, may be made in practice as fairly fall withinthe scope of my invention as claimed.

Having described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s

bination with a string and the part of the instrument over which thestring extends; of a sharping device comprising an endwise-movable pinextending through the part from the front'to the rear thereof, andhaving a lateral portion at its forward end arranged to engage thestring, and a hook or loop at its rear end, a spring tending to normallypress the pin forwardly, a guide-frame at the rear of the part, and aslide movable in the guideframe and having a taper end disposed in thehook or loop of the pin.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES M. FUNK.

In a stringed musical instrument, the com

